GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I call on Chrysler thus why I am excited about this! Probably good news for me and my team! Chrysler Introduces New ‘Best-in-Industry’ Lifetime Powertrain Warranty on Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge Vehicles The New Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty – the first from an OEM and the longest in the industry – is a statement of confidence in the reliability of Chrysler products. Warranty covers the cost of all parts and labor needed to repair covered powertrain components – engine, transmission and drive system. Provides worry-free ownership for new Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge owners Auburn Hills, Mich. - Chrysler today announced that the Company would extend its powertrain warranty from the 3-year/36,000-mile Basic Limited Warranty to a new Lifetime Powertrain Warranty. The new Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty applies to most new Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles purchased from dealer inventory and delivered on or after July 26, 2007. The Lifetime Powertrain Warranty covers the cost of all parts and labor needed to repair covered powertrain components – engine, transmission and drive system. The new powertrain warranty is limited to the first registered owner or retail lessee. Customers should contact dealers for details on vehicle selection. “This new Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty is a statement of confidence to our customers to the reliability of their powertrain. It’s peace-of-mind reassurance for as long as they own the vehicle,” said Steven Landry, Executive Vice President – North America, Sales and Marketing, Service and Parts, Chrysler Group. To continue warranty coverage, the owner must have a powertrain inspection performed by an authorized Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge dealer once every 5 years. This inspection will be performed at no charge. The inspection must be made within 60 days of each 5-year anniversary of the warranty start date of the vehicle. Landry added, “The new Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty underscores our focus on quality and customer satisfaction. It demonstrates our commitment to customers and the confidence we have in our ability to produce quality, reliable and durable vehicles. That’s why we put ‘lifetime’ on it.” Customers may visit Chrysler.com, Jeep.com and Dodge.com for more information. A warranty promotion – print, radio, television and Internet – begins Friday, July 27.

The good: attracts more buyers to new carsThe bad: people might not ever need another car if chrysler will ALWAYS fix it for free...of course there are the people that ditch a car after a few years in order to have "the latest thing" and for those this won't matter much... unless it makes them think twice about trading

I wonder if the other Auto Manufactures will follow?and if so how soon after will they follow??

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 »I wonder if the other Auto Manufactures will follow?and if so how soon after will they follow??I doubt many others will follow this... and instead predict this will help bring chrysler further into the red. If a manufacture is willing to gamble on their product and not at some point hand the resonsibility of repairs onto the owner of the car... thats fine. But its going to cost them more money this way. Dealerships make money off of customer pay concerns and the manufacture loses out with warranty work paid to the dealership. Someone will end up getting the shaft on this one... I bet it will be the poor techs forced to do the work at reduced labor times. They are always the first to get shot when the manufacture cuts costs to save more money.

Don't get so into it. I'm sure there are plenty of stipulations with this one. Ones that won't cover new timing chains/belts because those are wear and tear after say 100,000 miles and what not. Many of the components that typical go wrong with engines and trannies can be accustomed to being wear and tear, like a clutch plate, slave cylinder, etc. etc. So I'm sure this won't affec them too much.

The quality put into all that "free" warranty work might also be an issue down the road...

It MAY be an opportunity for them to say "everything on the powertrain looks fine, but we noticed...Would you like us to take care of it? " It should also help to encourage keeping the maintenance with the dealership, as inspections are required every 5 yrs, within 60 days of that anniversary. I'm sure the dealerships will also provide friendly reminders...I'm not saying it'll be successful. I'm just saying this may be the way management sees it...

well this could end up to something kia does...it sounds good on paper then when you try to get something fixed...it some how isnt covered. So this covers all engine , tranny and drive system issues that break not from wear and tear? soo if your headgasket goes, its all covered? I would have to read the fine print...

No doubt there will be some trade offs and trial period I suppose.And a techs life is certainly not an easy one. A good friend of mine just became a GM World Class Tech. More should do this and make themselves more marketable for instances like this and if they need to move on or work on other vehicles under the same dealers roof.However, this is the first I heard of this and me and my team go to Chrysler weekly! Boy are we surprised on this one!

if they had a turbo diesel awd caliber with good gas mileage...or ev or hybrid...id be super interested

Well if they do have a "only non-wear items" under this new lifetime warranty... I can only imagine what gets put in that catagory. I mean everything at some point will wear out. Headgaskets, valves, seals, belts, hoses... bearings... pistons... block and heads... lol I don't see much being covered if thats the case.And I would almost bet money that they will require people to see them for EVERY service in order to somehow offset the costs of lifetime power train repairs.

everyone makes good points. but also remember more sales-more money to fix problemsreally i think this may be a good thing for chrysler. they must really be proud of there stuff

...or desparate to sell it.

It could be part of Cerberus's way for a come back... They bought DCX at a bad time and need to turn it around. Turn around before selling again maybe but still.

Quote, originally posted by Raivis »everyone makes good points. but also remember more sales-more money to fix problemsreally i think this may be a good thing for chrysler. they must really be proud of there stuffI might argue that point... dealerships actually make more money through their service departments then up front with car sales. Its been that way at the GM dealership I worked at, the dodge dealership I worked at and now the subaru dealership I work at.

i would still never buy one. not a fan. good for them, but they still haven't appealed to me as a consumer. then again, my made has been made up for many years, also why Ford will most likely never sell me on their products (except Mercury).

Hmm,lotta question ifs and buts with this. more info needs to come forward. If it turns out to be a sure thing I'll be putting in a deposit on the beautiful 2009 SRT cherokee.

if i would have got a dodge/chrysler/jeep..i'd probably go with the sebring or the TJ rubican(if they still make it)

Seriously, there's a chance Chrysler won't be around in a few years to honor it. Then what? Many expect the management group that took Chrsler off Daimler's hands to restore it to profitabilty and then sell it off....maybe even break it up.

Sell, maybe down the road who knows.A break up just really is not possible. Their engines and trans for example are used in many vehicles over all the brands. Possibly sell off a name like Jeep but they cannot break off a brand, too much cross pollination with parts and resources.

Two years ago they reduced the powertrain warranty from 7yrs/70,000 miles to 3 years/36,000 miles because their "research" showed consumers did not care about that. What a turnaround!Of course it won't help resale values as it only applies to the original purchaser.I's bet only a small percentage of people keep a car more than 5 years so the cost may not be that high.The wear and tear exclsuion makes sense for a part like the timing chain where there is a recommended replacement life, but I think they will be stuck with repairing other failures like gaskets and piston rings. Of course you'll need to keep records or requried maintenance including coolant and transmission fluid changes.Hyundai and Kia will have to change their ads to" The best transferable warranty in the industry".And of course these warranty obligations could be extinguished in bankruptcy.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »The wear and tear exclsuion makes sense for a part like the timing chain where there is a recommended replacement life, but I think they will be stuck with repairing other failures like gaskets and piston rings.Does Chrysler indicate a recommended replacement interval for timing chains? I don't see anything listed in the GM maintenance schedule for the Vibe.

I think I have to go with engeneertwin on this one. Sounds like an act of desparation.So, they either convince the public that all the junk cars theyve built over the last decade arent really junk, and run the risk of going bankrupt by fixing them... or, they go bankrupt by not selling any cars to begin with.They had better make some serious quality refinements on those transmissions or this is going to get bad very quickly.

was watching Autisn Powers last night on the local Fox channel and every commercial break they were advertising the new Lifetime Power Train Warrenty. Individual comercials for Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler.

Quote, originally posted by prathman »Does Chrysler indicate a recommended replacement interval for timing chains? I don't see anything listed in the GM maintenance schedule for the Vibe.My recollection is that the metal timing chains do not have to be replaced - but timing "belts" do. I don't think I have ever put enough miles on a car before trading to get to the timing belt change point. Maybe the Vibe has a timing chain.

Yes - the Vibe has a timing "chain". For picture seehttp://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=21620

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »Yes - the Vibe has a timing "chain".Yes, and before you wrote "The wear and tear exclsuion makes sense for a part like the timing chain where there is a recommended replacement life."In my experience most manufacturers don't include timing chain replacement in the routine maintenance schedule.

Quote, originally posted by prathman »Yes, and before you wrote "The wear and tear exclsuion makes sense for a part like the timing chain where there is a recommended replacement life."In my experience most manufacturers don't include timing chain replacement in the routine maintenance schedule.subaru uses a Timing Belt instead and its included for replacement in routine maintenance schedule of 105,000 miles and to be replaced every 105k after that.

Yes the Vibe has a timing chain. They do recommend a valve adjustment in their routine maintenance schedule. The only Chrysler I would drive is a Viper.

i'll see your viper and raise you a crossfire.

lol chrysler can suck it. Just found out the warranty doesn't apply to the SRT models. BOO! The only vehicle I would consider keeping stock to actually have the warranty.

Quote, originally posted by tangerine »lol chrysler can suck it. Just found out the warranty doesn't apply to the SRT models. BOO! The only vehicle I would consider keeping stock to actually have the warranty.lol can you imagine the fun they (dealership) would have denying warranty on all modded SRT vehicles? I could see it being a pain.

If a consumer was smart they would read between the lines " why are they doing it because they make a ****ty car and they know people are sold on warrantys amazing people would actually by into this" and they just may, but they'll being driving a peice of crap thats in the shop alot good news at least they dont have to pay for it but come on just buy a great car to begin with